1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case holding mechanism or structure for holding a case of such as canister to a predetermined position.
2. Prior Art
A machinery or equipment such as canister or reserve tank having a case is mounted detachably to a vehicle body by holding a hold member to be held, which is provided for one of the case and the vehicle body, to a holding member, which is provided for the other one thereof. Such mechanism is generally mounted in an engine room of a vehicle or a portion near a fuel tank, for example.
In recent years, according to an increased requirement of high performance of vehicles such as automobiles, various machineries or equipments are accommodated and arranged in an engine room, and hence, a space for mounting a case of such as canister has been reduced therein. Accordingly, it has been desired to provide an improved mechanism for holding or mounting the case without giving any adverse influence to an environmental equipments or vehicle body itself.
A prior art provides a Kokoku (examined patent publication) of Japanese Utility Model No. HEI 8-8901 (Reference 1), in which the canister case is provided, at its outer peripheral surface, with a rectangular hold member to be held. This hold member has opposing outer edge portions formed so as to be tapered. That is, the outer edge portions of the hold member to be held is tapered with respect to the perpendicularly intersecting two directions. On the other hand, the holding member has both side edge portions to which engaging portions to be engaged with the hold member to be held by the holding member are formed. These engaging portions are also formed to be tapered so as to be engageable with the outer edge of the hold member to be held.
According to such structure, in the holding mechanism disclosed in the Reference 1, the canister can be mounted with respect to the perpendicular two directions of a vehicle body.
However, in the holding mechanism of the Reference 1, the engagement is performed by utilizing the tapered structure, so that after the mounting, there is a fear for the engaged portion to be loosened in lapse of time, thus being inconvenient and disadvantageous.